Chronic intake of nutritive sweeteners and saccharin increases levels of glycolytic and lipogenic enzymes in rat liver

Abstract

There are doubts about the impact of non-nutritive sweeteners consumption on lipogenic and glycolytic metabolism. Therefore, the objective was to determine the effects of chronic consumption of sweeteners on the activity levels of the enzymes glucokinase (GK), phosphofructokinase-1 (PFK-1), pyruvate kinase (PKL), acetyl coenzyme A carboxylase (ACC), and fatty acid synthase (FAS) in livers’ extracts. Groups of male and female Wistar rats drank solutions of sweeteners for 480 days: Sucrose 10%, glucose 14%, fructose 7%, acesulfame K 0.05%, aspartame:acesulfame mixture 1.55%, sucralose 0.017%, saccharin 0.033%, and a control group. The enzymatic activity in livers’ extracts was determined. Likewise, the levels of glucose, triglycerides, insulin, glucagon, and leptin were determined. In both genders, there were significant differences in the levels of enzymatic activity, hormonal, and biochemical parameters due to sweeteners consumption. The highest glycolytic and lipogenic enzyme activity levels were observed in the groups that ingested nutritive sweeteners and saccharin.

Keywords:

• Sweeteners
• lipogenic enzymes
• glycolytic enzymes
• body mass gain
• insulin

Acknowledgment

The authors are grateful for the collegial advice and academic support given by Mrs. Prof. Dr. Rosario Adelaida Muñoz-Clares and Mrs. Prof. Dr. Elia Martha Pérez-Armendariz.

Disclosure statement

The author declares no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (IN217619). The first author received a scholarship from Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (Conacyt).